A ‘Pull’ Approach to Scaling Proven Nonprofits (Blog)

When a nonprofit I founded in 1990 saw success in Boston, we were able to grow that nonprofit to two additional cities, Philadelphia and Hartford. In doing so, we encountered a host of setbacks—building relationships, recruiting and maintaining talented local staff, local fundraising, and more—and it became clear that, in sharp contrast to the ease of expansion I saw in the for-profit sector, social entrepreneurs face a different set of challenges and risks when scaling into new locations.

Many nonprofit organizations have the same experience: an organization may have tremendous impact in its current locations, but it is difficult to replicate the model and achieve similar impact in new cities without the relationships, funding partners, local nonprofit partners, and community buy-in that make it possible.

Part of the problem is that when we talk about nonprofit scaling, we often think about how a nonprofit can “push” into a new city. This can often mean that we decide to go to a new city without understanding the local nonprofit ecosystem or even if the community wants and needs the program. What if, instead, a community asked
that nonprofit to come? What if the goal was to pull nonprofits to communities that were ready to receive (and support) them?

We founded the GreenLight Fund in 2004 to answer this question, and we have since helped pull 55 nonprofits into over a dozen cities across the country. Our approach puts the local community at the center of our work, amplifying the voices of residents, prioritizing local challenges, complementing the social services already there, and building strategic partnerships to pull in the nonprofit solutions that the community wants and needs.

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Start with listening. Start with the need.

In every community across the country, there are populations experiencing poverty with limited access to economic mobility. However, each community is different, with its own unique inherent complexities and dynamics in areas such as systems, cultures, norms, power, and leadership. To understand if an existing nonprofit will fit in another community, a funder first needs to understand the local context. Is it truly needed and wanted? Will it be additive to social services already available in that city? Could it be sustainable?

Funders looking to make the entire social sector stronger—as well as provide access to resources and opportunities that support individuals’ and families’ ability to thrive—may find it’s more effective to start with listening than with an already-existing solution. Listening to residents who are close to or have direct experience with the challenges helps us understand what’s working locally and assess where there may be opportunities for an innovative model to make an impact. In addition, conducting landscape analysis, studying reports, and having conversations with local nonprofit and public sector leaders adds context to what types of programs could be impactful and additive.

In Greater Newark, for example, our team conducted 100+ one-on-one conversations, convened ten focus groups, and received 200+ completed surveys. In parallel, the team had conversations with local nonprofit programs working in the spaces aligned with the priority areas and pulled quantitative data from local reports. The combination of local qualitative and quantitative information—along with the intersections across these areas—painted a picture of opportunities to make significant impact.

We learned that 76.5 percent of people in Newark have earned a high school diploma or equivalent, and only 15.5 percent have attained a bachelor’s degree (and 82.4 percent of Newark Public School high school students receive free or reduced lunch). Conversations with people closest to the issues brought those numbers to life. We heard from parents that their young adult children with high school diplomas wanted opportunities to apply their skills and build a career, but they were only able to secure minimum-wage jobs. And we heard directly from young adults about their frustration with the limited avenues available to them, despite their hard work and persistence.

Through the process, employment opportunities with career growth for young adults with high school diplomas rose to the top.

Finding the Best Local Fit for the Need

At this point in the process, a funder can begin considering specific nonprofit programs based on what’s been identified as needed and viable given the local context. After the discovery and research comes the search for evidence-based programs with measurable impact from elsewhere in the country that address the identified challenge. It’s crucial to find organizations that fit the community’s systems and dynamics, have culturally relevant experience reaching the local population looking for this type of model, and complement the current nonprofit ecosystem. This involves thoroughly vetting nonprofit organizations from across the country. Some of the factors we evaluate include alignment with the identified need, demonstrable impact, readiness for replication, commitment to equity, and capacity to sustain growth. These factors can be assessed through calls with organizational leadership, site visits, and presentations.

This process is also an opportunity to develop mutual trust: an important foundation for future collaboration as the funder and selected organization will need a strong, long-term working relationship to ensure the organization can effectively address the unmet need with the best local fit and measurable results.

In Kansas City, GreenLight hired Community Consultants, residents who had been part of the process to identify the area of focus and with direct experience navigating the challenge the team was looking to address. Those consultants received background information and training and then participated on calls with potential organizations, whose questions and feedback helped inform the ultimate decision. At the same time, the local team met with the Selection Advisory Council (SAC), a diverse group of leaders and experts, three times throughout the process, getting their input and addressing their questions while weighing the selection decision.

In the process that eventually led to the selection of mRelief (a tech-based platform assisting people in applying for the SNAP program), some of the most valuable input came from the community. One Community Consultant actively used the tool to apply for SNAP benefits and identified a valuable feature that she recommended the organization promote more prominently. Another consultant raised a significant question about sustaining benefits once they were received, a question that may not have surfaced without the input of someone who directly benefited from SNAP. From the SAC, questions about the finalist organizations related to how sizeable the projected impact would be; what wraparound support the program would offer; the ability to hire local staff with the right skills needed to implement the program; and whether they would have a diverse revenue model. These questions were important to fully understand, as well as how the program would work with other nonprofits and funders, their revenue model, their track record for reaching their track record for reaching Black, Indigenous, Asian, Hispanic, and LatinX people, and local context are all important factors when evaluating the local fit.

Securing Partnerships

Starting with the need (and bringing more than one organization forward at this stage) is crucial to ensuring that the right program, at the right time, will be successful. The risk of replicating a program that isn’t ready or isn’t a fit is greater than just a loss of funds, after all; it also impacts program participants who are left without a program that is responsive to their needs.

To ensure the selected nonprofit “pulled in” reaches a level of sustainable impact similar to what it has achieved elsewhere, it is important to confirm if needed local partnerships can be established. Prior to the funding decision, it’s key to ascertain the possibility of strong partnerships for referrals, implementation, and additional funding, with private, public, and nonprofit sector organizations that see the value of this additional model in the community. After ensuring this, hands-on support to build those partnerships will be essential for success and long-term results.

For example, in the case of a school-based program to address youth mental health, it would be important to ensure that mental health is a priority to the local school district. In Charlotte, before confirming an investment in Inner Explorer, an evidence-based mindfulness program designed to support the mental health and well-being of students, the team needed to find a path towards a partnership with Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools if they were going to achieve impact at the scale needed. Understanding that an agreement with the district can take years, the team was able to secure a pilot with six individual schools and several community organizations through the buy-in of local principals and directors. After a few months, the value of the program to both students and teachers became clear and, as an added benefit, it came with little additional work on the part of the teachers. With relationships developed with the school superintendent and the director of partnerships, and champions from the pilot schools illustrating the positive results of the pilot, GreenLight’s local leader completed an MOU with the district within six months of Inner Explorer starting up in Charlotte, ensuring a district-wide rollout during the following academic year.

Implementation That Stays Local

Having local champions and established trust is instrumental in helping a nonprofit new to the community develop needed relationships and become embedded in the local ecosystem. It is an ongoing and time-consuming process; it doesn’t happen overnight. At GreenLight, the process is led by a local leader with deep roots in their community who, because they are closest to the work, are the ultimate decision maker.

We work closely with the selected organization to hire local leadership to implement the program, combining knowledge about the local landscape with support from their national office and national board. To ensure ongoing support, we work with the local nonprofit leader to establish a non-fiduciary local advisory board made up of GreenLight’s local leader as well as a diverse set of champions. They provide support tailored to the nonprofit’s needs, helping ensure a strong foundation over time, fostering connections, building capacity, navigating challenges, and providing ongoing strategic support. That long-term investment is needed to ensure the nonprofit reaches impact, is sustainable, and delivers the change the community is looking for.

By taking the time to involve the community and establish partnerships, a nonprofit organization not only diminishes the risk of scaling to another location but also develops strong roots in that community. Moreover, when programs come to the community based on what residents facing economic and racial inequities are looking for it will make for better funding decisions, stronger impact, and measurable change.

Making the Right Decision

There are many challenges to scaling to a new geography. When organizations scale to new communities without a partner with deep local relationships that is pulling them in, it takes much longer to begin their work in the community and reach impact. They are on their own to balance and manage risk, establish trust, navigate and form referral and implementation partnerships, secure funding, and plan for sustainability.

As a funder looking to add social services to your community, using your resources to establish a strong foundation of trust and credibility up-front is important. By listening to all sectors across the community, understanding the local landscape and the players that intersect the work, identifying the type of program that is most needed before deciding on the grantee, and then building strategic partnerships in innovative ways, you will ensure the program you select is complementary to the local social sector. Furthermore, committing multi-year, general operating funding along with ongoing strategic advising, relational connections, and a partnership mindset is paramount to set the grantee up for scaling successfully and long-term impact.

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Read more stories by John Simon.